Coatesville's Band of Brothers on their way to Hershey

Photo by Tom Kelly IV
Coatesville QB Emmett Hunt (6) tries to pump up the fans and the rest of the team in the final moments of the game, during the La Salle College High School vs Coatesville State Semi-Final football game Friday night December 7, 2012 at Downingtown West High School.

DOWNINGTOWN -- Let’s be honest, Dre Boggs can put it better than I can.

“We’re from Coatesville and we play Coatesville football,” said the electric wide receiver. “We come out and play tough and they’re not gonna know how to stop us.”

There you go. Story over. What else do you need to know?

Every so often a special team comes along with just the right balance of talent and heart and camaraderie. That is what we’re witnessing right now with this Coatesville team.

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On the outside, it seems surprising, at least to some extent, how successful the Red Raiders have been, and how much they improve each week.They have won 11 straight games and they have legitimately played a better game in each week of the postseason.I don’t think anyone inside that locker room is at all surprised.

It has a lot to do with the fact that most of the skill players for Coatesville can run faster than their opponents. And it also has a lot to do with how prepared these kids have been, thanks to a coaching staff that has done a masterful job this season under Matt Ortega. But do not discount the concept that a group of teenagers bonded by togetherness and pride of where they come from is fueling part of this run.

“We play for our town. Look at all the support we have,” Coatesville linebacker Tyler Burke said, pointing to the full home stands at Kottmeyer Stadium.

The biggest testament of that bond is the way the Red Raiders fight adversity. They are like ducks in a pond, the way adversity beads up and slips right off their backs. You can find numerous examples all season long, but there’s enough just in the La Salle College game to go around.

A team couldn’t start much worse in the biggest game of its season, nullifying a huge punt return by Dre Boggs with a block in the back, jumping offsides, an offensive pass interference. You name it, Coatesville was penalized for it early on. And yet, after La Salle had the ball deep in Coatesville territory twice on its first three drives, the score was just 7-0.

Hunt led Coatesville on three straight scoring drives to erase its first deficit of the playoffs and converted it into a 21-7 lead. Even then, La Salle roared right back, scoring twice in 51 seconds to tie it again. The second came on a pick-six off Hunt on a screen pass.

Again, like oil and water, Hunt and company separated from the adversity, taking a short field thanks to a long Boggs’ kick return and regained the lead in five plays, 29 seconds before the half.

La Salle is chock full of talent. Granted it lost its best playmaker in Sean Coleman midway through the first, and its top lineman Tom Spiteri a little later, but something tells me if this Coatesville team was in the same spot it would have found a way to shake it off.

With all the negativity towards La Salle and their open enrollment being a part of the same PIAA postseason as public schools, from myself included, maybe, just maybe, growing up and playing on teams together all childhood matters against a team comprised of talent from different areas.

“It proves $20,000 a year doesn’t mean anything if you don’t have heart,” said Hunt, referring to the ballpark amount of La Salle’s tuition dues. “We all grew up together and we’re all family.”

Coatesville is on a mission. Nothing screams that like the way it opened the second half. A 13-play, 84-yard TD drive that took five minutes and 48 seconds off the clock was soon followed by a 12-play, 64-yard drive that finished in the end zone, early in the fourth quarter.

Running back Daquan Worley mashed La Salle’s vaunted defense, ending with 146 yards on 31 carries, and Hunt, who has hardly been pressured this season, seemed cool and calm in a not so cool and calm pocket at times.

The greatest example of that was on Coatesville’s second scoring drive. On a first-and-10, Hunt felt heat from the edge, and La Salle end Jon Naji had him all but wrapped up. But somehow Hunt shimmied away just enough to find an open Boggs on the left side, leading to a 47-yard gain. Two plays later Hunt snuck it in himself for the 14-7 lead.

Hunt now has a PIAA Class AAAA record 43 touchdown passes in a season, which ties him at seventh all time with Allentown Central Catholic’s Brendan Nosovitch. Wide receiver Chris Jones has been on the other end of 25 of them, which is second all time in the PIAA, and tops in 4A. He’s two shy of tying the record held by Nosovitch’s former teammate Kevin Gulyas.

Say what you want, but Coatesville has something you can’t gameplan against right now. And whomever it gets in the state championship game next Saturday, Boggs speaks for the rest of his team with their mindset.

“It’s the same,” he confirmed. “It doesn’t change. We’re just playing football.”